A typical chromatographic separation scheme which has been used heretofore for analyzing components of coal-derived liquids includes two adsorption columns which separate saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons from polar hydrocarbons, elutes and characterizes the aromatics, and then elutes the polar compounds as a single fraction by backflushing of the columns. The subsequent steps required to analyze constituents of the single fraction of polar compounds in separate apparatus are both time-consuming and conducive to the introduction of errors in the case of small samples.